Manufacture of alcohol-reduced beer



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

MANUFACTURE OF ALCOHOL-REDUCED BEER.

Specification of Reissuefi Letters Patent. fieissued June 22, 192() NoDrawing. Original No. 1,302,551, dated May e, 1919, Serial No. 260,952,filed November 4,1918. Appli.

' cation for reissue filed July 3, 1919. Serial No. 308,658.

To all whom it may concern:

Be. it known that I, HERMAN HEUSER, a

' citizen of the United States, residing at Evanston, in the county ofCook and btate of lllinois,have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in the Manufacture ofiXlcohol-Iieduced Beer, of which thefollowing is a specification.

My invention refers to the manufacture of alcohol-reduced beverages madefrom fermented ,beverages such as beer beverages,

and in particular it refers to the manufacture ofv non-intoxicating beercontaining a small amount of alcohol, as for instance less than of l percent. by volume. In accordance with the present invention the.fBIll'lBIl-x tative-and propa'gative actions of yeast are utilized forthe'production in the alcoholreduced beverage of a characteristic tasteand flavor. More particularly my present invention consists insubjecting alcohol-1e duced beer to the action of fermenting wort orkraeu'sen containing the elements of yeast fermentation under suchconditions that while the fermentationof the wort will re-- store thecharacteristic taste and flavor. of the original beer totheal'cohol-reduced beer it will not carbonate the latter, and thencarbonating the uncarbonatedf-mix'ture by any artificial means.

In carrying out my invention, any kind of beer may serve as a base forthe operations to be described, and any suitable apparatus may beemployed. I prefer, however, to use beer of normal gravity, thoroughlyfer merited, well clarified, and light in color, and the followingexemplification of my inven tion is based on its application to beer ofcustomary composition and usual'alcoholic content. Assuming that thequantity to 'be processed is 100 barrels of such beer, this uantity issubjected to boiling forthe reuction of its alcohol to the desiredextent. When the alcohol content of thebeer has been reduced to say 0.07per cent. by volume determined afterthe volume. rectification to theoriginal 100 barrels has taken place, the beer is cooled to a suitabletemperature, say 48 F., and at this temperature it is mixed withfermenting wort which has an alcoholproducing capacity of 3.50 percentrby volume and is pitched to the barrel with 2 pounds of thick-fluidvigorous yeast containing lactic acid bacteria. The addition of thefermenting wort necessarily results in, the

production of limited amounts of alcohol and of carbon dioxid. Thegreater part of the latter escapes into the atmosphere. In order,however, to reduce the amount of carbon dioxid produced by thisfermentation in the beverage, I may use Wortin an advanced'state offermentation, providing it is not entirely fermented. I am therebyenabled to" take advantage also of the more vigorous condition of theyeast in such wort, as Well as of its improved taste and flavor.

The alcohol-reduced beer is subjected to thev action ofthe fermentingwort or kraeusen under such conditions that while thekraeusen-fermentation restores the taste and fiav or'of the originalbeer .to the alcohol-reduced-beer it will not carbonate the latter, asfor example by using a smaller amount of wortthan is'necessaryto developa suflicient amount of carbonicacid gas to often vesce or carbonate thebeer, say 5 barrels of such wort to 100 barrels-of the alcohol-reducedbeer, -or by treating the alcohol-rethe taste and flavor of the beer,and when thebeer and wort have been thoroughly mixed the mixture isstored at a temperature of about 48 F. for about a Week to stimulateyeast fermentation as Well as theac tivity of the lactic acidbacteria,1a'nd then it is cooled to the storage temperatures of beer,say 37 or 38 F., to-avoid infection liable in thebeer is too small toexercise any retarding efl'ect thereon,.-and as the restorae tion of thetaste and flavor imparted by the yeast and lactic acid bacteria is notaffected by the very small amount of carbonic acid gas that may bepresent in the mixture,

it is carried to its maximum degree.-' The taste and flavor improvementin the beer'is watch d y p i ical Sampling, and when .to occur at highertemperatures,and is stored it has been advanced to the desired degree,whichmay take a week or two, the -beer containing by this timeanalcohol-content of 0.24% by volume is subjected to artificialcarbonationby any well known means. Such carbonation may be preferablycarried out to the best advantage by carbonating the beer in bullrwhileit is being mechanically stirred. Finally, after having been clarifiedby filtration, the beer is ready for the market.

lam aware that it has been proposed to I introduce into cooledalcohol-reduced beer about fifteen per cent. of kraeusen to produceasecondary fermentation to restore the taste, flavor and effervescenceof the'original beer, and that in such process the etl'fervescence isproduced by the carbonation of the beer bythe-carbonic acid gasdeveloped by this kraeusen fermentation, as in the patents to Uhlmann,No.'613,915 dated Nov. 8, 1895, and'Nilson, No. 721,383, dated Feb. 2,1903. In such a process the kraeusen carbonation. of the beer isnecessarily done in a closedor bunged vessel, in the same way that it isdone in the customary chipcask fermentation of regular beer,-becauseotherwise the carbonic acid gas would escape without per-' formingits.carbonating function; and such kraeusen f carbonation proceeds undera bunging pressure of5 or 6 pounds, while simultaneously largequantities of CO are blown off through the bunging apparatus. Thisnecessitates the addition of a lar g e;

amount of fermentable' carbohydrates to pro- .duce the necessary volumeof CO because unlike regular beer which contains 0.30%

of CO, alcohol-reduced beer contains no CO, and as beer must contain0.41% of CO before it attains the average degree ofchipcaskv'efifervescence alcohol-reduced beer requires about four timesas much CO as regular'beer to make it properly eiiervescent. The resultis that such kraeu'sen carbonation permits only the fermentative oralcohol-and CU -producing action of the yeast and the large amount of(lo arrests the propagative action of the yeast,'as-well as the actionof the lactic acid bacteria, and

so the taste and flavor restoringactivities;

* of these elements are retarded, it being wellknown that where theworking of yeast is limited to it's fermenta'tive action alcohol and C0,are abundantly produced but the characteristic taste andflavor of theyeast are not reproduced or restored, and that in treating-beer CO,exercises a pronoun'ced retarding effect upon both the propagative andf'ermentative actions of the yeast (see page 1700f Die Gacrungs-fuehrungby Delbrueck' and Hayduck) and that 0.40% of CO stops the yeastpropagation (see F I ZZustrierte-s B'muerei Lexicon 1910, vol. 2, p.369, by Delbrueck).- In the kraeusen carbonation of alcohol-reduced beera mininecessary to carbonate 77 barrels of alcoholthose beverages madeby kraeusen carbonaan alcohol-rest of from 0.05 to 0.15% of mum amountof kraeusen having a certain alcohol or carbonic-acid gas producingcapacity is necessary-to carbonate thebeer, for examplewith kraeusenhaving an alcohol producing capacity oi 3.50% by volume corresponding toa CO producing capacity of 2.03%, 223 barrels of such kraeusen arereduced beer to produce barrels of car bonated beer, it being understoodthat normany-0.41% of CO is retained in the beer' and at least 0.20%isblown oii. Also the kraeusen carbonation precludes stabilizing thealcohol contents of the beer as of the CO developed the amount retainedaverages at the usual bunging pressure not less than 0.41% and theamount blown off during the long time required for this treatment isbetween 0.20% and'0.40%, so that taking thedevelopment of the alcoholand C0, by yeast fermentation at the correct ratio of 51.11 to 48.89 andthe specific gravity of alcohol at 0.7935, it is obvious that the amountof CO retained in the beer corresponds to 0.5 1% of alcohol by volumeand the amount of C0, blown off through the banging apparatus maycorrespond to the same figure, whereby the total amount of alcoholproduced by kraeusen carbonation is about 1% by volume. So it is notpractical to stabilize the alcohol-content of tion within the internalrevenue limit of less than J -of 1% by volume, and as the commercialalcohol-reduced beers contain alcohol by volume after the volumerectification to the original amount has taken place, this alcohol-restadded to the alcohol produced by kraeusen carbonation increases theuncertaintyof stabilizing by kraeusen carbonation the alcohol to thissmall amount permitted by the internal revenue regulation. 1

On the other hand, thesedisadvanta es are obviated by the presentinvention. producing yeast fermentation in the alcoholreduced beverageunder such conditions, that carbonation does not occur, I can usefermentable material or kraeusen in amounts suflicient to produce thefermentation for restoring the taste and flavor of the originalbeveragebut below the minimum amount necessary for carbonation, and thusmay stabilize the alcohol content at any predetermined amount. I also amable to utilize both the ierm'entative and propagative aci tions of theyeast, as thesmall amount of CO that may be present in the beverage isinsuflicient toarrest this propagative action,

I tion of the yeast in nalogy with its action in the main form itationof wort or beer where the characteristic taste and flavor of theoriginal beverage are produced. pensing with kraeusen carbonation I amalso able to artificially carbonatethe beverage to restore itsefl'emescenc after the tastev and flavor restoration by thepropagativeaction of the yeast contained in the added'kraeusen has takenplace inthe alcohol reduced beer and so without impairing the restored taste orflavor. bacteria contained in the pitching yeast imparts to the beveragethe pungent taste of the original beer-and helps to remove the burnttaste or flavor imparted by boiling to the alcohol-reduced beverage, andas CO is inimical tothe .growth and development of such bacteria 'theyare given full freedom of action by my invention as the CO in'the beeris negligible, while there is no' danger of too much lactic acid beingformed as the low temperature at whichth'e bacteria are present in thebeverage keeps their action within beneficial limits, it beingunderstood can be preserved at even the lower temperatures at whichordinary chipcaskfermentation of regular beer proceeds as is apparentfrom the fact that many regular beers contain large quantities of lacticacid,

I mean by beer beverages, all beverages made by yeast fermentationofliquids possessing in solution the essential constituents of beer wortinuabout the same ratio as beer wort, itbeing immaterial from whatmaterials or by What process such liquids are made. a i

I mean by wort as used in the claims hereof. Wort or kraeusen containingthe required elements of fermentation. This application is acontinuation of parts. of my By dis- Also, the action of the lacticacid.

co-pending pplica-tion filed July 25th,19151, bearing Serial Number853,059. 7

I claim: V 1'. Iii-the manufacture of a low alcoholic beverage the'process which consists in producing a yeast fermentation in un-alcoholreduced fermented beverage without carbona-ting the beverage,and then artificially carbonating the beverage.

-2. In the manufacture of low alcoholic beer the process which consistsin producing a yeast fermentation in alcol1 olreduced beer wlthoutcarbonating it, and then artificially carbonating the beer.

3. In the manufacture of low alcoholic fermentable substances and activeyeast to alc'ohoLreduced beer, causing fermentation,

beer, the process which consists in subjecting alcohol-reduced beer tothe action of fermenting wort without carbonating'it, and

then artificially carbonatin the beer. that the bacteria are readilyacclimated to the temperatures employed, astheir activity tion of wortin-an advanced .state offermentation without carbonating the beer, andthen artificially carbonating the beer.

6. In the manufacture of alcohol-reduced .beer the process whichconsists in adding beer, the process which consists in reducing vthealcohol content of beer belowone-half of one per cent. by volume,subjecting the alcohol-reduced beer to the action of fer-

